Answer:
yes; the distributive property applies to dot products
Step-by-step explanation:
The product of (a-b) with itself is ...
(a -b)·(a -b) = a² -2ab +b²
because the commutative and distributive properties apply to multiplication.
(a -b)·(a -b) = a(a -b) -b(a -b) = a² -ab -ba +b² = a² -ab -ab +b² = a² -2ab +b²
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The same expansion works for the dot product operation, because the commutative and distributive properties hold for that operation, as well.
(u −v)•(u −v) = u•(u -v) -v•(u -v) = u•u -u•v -v•u +v•v
= u•u -u•v -u•v +v•v = u•u -(u+u)•v +v•v = u•u -2u•v +v•v
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Additional comment
The proof of any of the properties of the dot product relies on expressing the vectors in component form. The distributive property is no exception.
